Crouching_tiger
TUG Member
Anyone traded RCI points for Airfare? Is it an easy process? Did you get the travel date that you wanted? Is it worth trading your points or just pay cash for the air?
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RCI Points for Airfare
- Thread starter Crouching_tiger
- Start date
BillR
TUG Member
Everything went smoothly! I got where I wanted when I wanted. The price was just a bit more than paying cash. If you fly coast to coast you can save some money.Crouching_tiger said:
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We had some points that we needed to use soon, so I borrowed some from next year and used the expiring points for two RT tickets to Kauai. It cost me $540 total per ticket, with my maintenance fees being pretty low for those Aussie weeks. It was pretty simple, but the first guy I talked to said he could not get me anything from Denver.
I was bummed. Then I called back a few days later, just to see if anything changed and a woman at RCI was most helpful, got me the tickets. It saved me $200 per person for those summer fares. I was very happy.
When you have too many weeks anyway, might as well use them to fly and use those points wisely, like for those 9,000 points or less weeks.
I was bummed. Then I called back a few days later, just to see if anything changed and a woman at RCI was most helpful, got me the tickets. It saved me $200 per person for those summer fares. I was very happy. When you have too many weeks anyway, might as well use them to fly and use those points wisely, like for those 9,000 points or less weeks.
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I also have more points than I can use and bought DS18 a ticket to Hawaii for this summer. He waited relatively late to decide to go and NO we were not able to get the exact dates we wanted. Basically he got the same thing I would have gotten by buying a discounted fare. He arrived five days late and had to leave two days early.
My points cost is a little on the high side, so I could have saved a couple of hundred by just buying his ticket, but I was afraid I was going to let points expire.
The process was relatively painless, other than availability being limited. He also flew American Airlines, which was not his first choice.
Sheila
My points cost is a little on the high side, so I could have saved a couple of hundred by just buying his ticket, but I was afraid I was going to let points expire.
The process was relatively painless, other than availability being limited. He also flew American Airlines, which was not his first choice.
Sheila
Carolinian
TUG Member
A friend of mine dumped RCI Points (and I got his Points directory) over this very issue.
He had only been to Europe one time, to England, was in a position to travel and wanted to go. In fact, when he fell for the points spiel, the air tickets was one attractive part of it for him. The points required at that time for a summer ticket to Europe were actually quite a good deal.
He called many times to try to get points air tickets to Europe with absolutely no success. He started with a couple of cities, and expanded to anywhere but England, where he had already been. The time range he gave them was wide open for the whole summer. All they were able to offer was London on Continenal Airlines through the middle of June, and nothing at all for the rest of the summer. He asked when they could get tickets to scveral specific destinations and was told only November to March, which was low season.
I suggested grabbing the London ticket and using an LCC from there, but he was already so steamed with the ticket situation, he said he was just dumping points, and did.
Points was not a good deal for a low season ticket, but at that time, that seemed about all that was availible from RCI Points, other than London in shoulder season.
I don't know if availibility to Europe has improived since then. Maybe it has since they seem to have substantially increased the point levels for tickets.
I had tired to tell my friend he had made a mistake getting into Points, but he found out for himself with the European air tioket fiasco!
He had only been to Europe one time, to England, was in a position to travel and wanted to go. In fact, when he fell for the points spiel, the air tickets was one attractive part of it for him. The points required at that time for a summer ticket to Europe were actually quite a good deal.
He called many times to try to get points air tickets to Europe with absolutely no success. He started with a couple of cities, and expanded to anywhere but England, where he had already been. The time range he gave them was wide open for the whole summer. All they were able to offer was London on Continenal Airlines through the middle of June, and nothing at all for the rest of the summer. He asked when they could get tickets to scveral specific destinations and was told only November to March, which was low season.
I suggested grabbing the London ticket and using an LCC from there, but he was already so steamed with the ticket situation, he said he was just dumping points, and did.
Points was not a good deal for a low season ticket, but at that time, that seemed about all that was availible from RCI Points, other than London in shoulder season.
I don't know if availibility to Europe has improived since then. Maybe it has since they seem to have substantially increased the point levels for tickets.
I had tired to tell my friend he had made a mistake getting into Points, but he found out for himself with the European air tioket fiasco!
3kids4me
TUG Lifetime Member
How many points does a domestic ticket cost? How about an international one?
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The charts for airfares are at the end of this document:
Points for products charts
(The opening pages of this document are the infamous "crossover grids" - the cost in points of reserving a unit from the Weeks system.)
When I bought, my quick and dirty calculation was that using my points for airfare would allow me to recover maintenance fees (but nothing toward my initial investment). I was comparing my using points versus buying airline tickets well in advance (thereby, getting the lowest airfare possible). The bottom line is that is that I would get more for my dollar (for my points) by using them for timeshares. I think my calculations are "fairly typical" of what would be true for "most" points owners.
That having been said, results will vary considerably based upon how many points your unit is worth, what your maintenance fees are, and whether you are buying a deeply discounted airfare or something closer to last minute.
For me, it is nice to know that if I fall behind in using my points for timeshares there is a bail out option that will at least allow me to recover my maintenence fees, but it is not the best use of my points. On the other hand, I have seen others save considerable money using points for airfare, but this requires the right alignment of the stars (maintence fees, current airfare, etc.).
Points for products charts
(The opening pages of this document are the infamous "crossover grids" - the cost in points of reserving a unit from the Weeks system.)
When I bought, my quick and dirty calculation was that using my points for airfare would allow me to recover maintenance fees (but nothing toward my initial investment). I was comparing my using points versus buying airline tickets well in advance (thereby, getting the lowest airfare possible). The bottom line is that is that I would get more for my dollar (for my points) by using them for timeshares. I think my calculations are "fairly typical" of what would be true for "most" points owners.
That having been said, results will vary considerably based upon how many points your unit is worth, what your maintenance fees are, and whether you are buying a deeply discounted airfare or something closer to last minute.
For me, it is nice to know that if I fall behind in using my points for timeshares there is a bail out option that will at least allow me to recover my maintenence fees, but it is not the best use of my points. On the other hand, I have seen others save considerable money using points for airfare, but this requires the right alignment of the stars (maintence fees, current airfare, etc.).
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